


More than 50 summers

by Tamarindo_Amargo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, Denial of Feelings, Drama, Friendship, Getting Back Together, Getting to Know Each Other, In which Hirugami is an idiot, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Translation, developing feelings, lots of pining, until it's not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25535956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamarindo_Amargo/pseuds/Tamarindo_Amargo
Summary: That day, he swore that he would wait for him. Then, a year became two and then three.Five years later, Kourai starts to think that perhaps crossing paths with Hinata is not, and won't ever be his fate. Still, he can't help but wait for him with the same eagerness as the first day.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Hoshiumi Kourai, Hirugami Sachirou/Hoshiumi Kourai
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	More than 50 summers

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Más de 50 veranos](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24954313) by [Tamarindo_Amargo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamarindo_Amargo/pseuds/Tamarindo_Amargo). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sachirou once told him that the English language is actually three other languages piling up and hiding under a coat, that seagulls mate for life _and that he should stop obsessing over Hinata Shouyou._ Sachirou says a lot of weird stuff, all the time.

**1\. THURSDAY**

_"I don't know you, but I already miss you"_

* * *

When he realized that he had no way to keep in touch with Hinata Shouyou, neither a way to ask him about his improvement or his injury. Nor to tell him to not look away from the tournament, because Kamomedai would _definitely_ win the nationals...

Karasuno was already disqualified, out of the stadium and packing their things to take a bus straight to Miyagi.

"I guess now we'll have to win in their honor too, won't we?"says Sachirou, in a way that anyone would have thought innocent.

Kourai, however, knows him better than that. That's why he politely asks him to eat shit. "Shut your trap, Sachirou," he grumbles, not daring enough to raise his eyes from the taped video of the match.

_"Hinata Shouyou, I will be waiting for you!"_ he mimics, pitching his voice to mock him. Kourai didn't need a mirror to know that his face had a similar shade to a ripe tomato.

"I didn't sound like that!" he yells in annoyance. To make everything worse, Sachirou only laughs harder. "Oh yeah? Yes, well, at least I didn't froze like an idiot, watchin' Karasuno's ace!"

_"Oi!"_

"Oh, what's the matter? Did somebody move Hirugami the Immovable's world?"

"Don't even try, Kourai-kun, that word is bigger than you."

"S-Stop that! It's _not!"_

Even if somehow Kourai convinces himself that he's okay, that was the expected outcome, he couldn't help but think about it.

No matter how much he would wish for it. Reality is something he can't shy away from: the team that drops the ball first loses, and Karasuno dropped it. Reality doesn't care about rivalries formed or whatever chemistry might or might not exist between the team. Reality doesn't care about the fact that he learned more about volleyball in that match alone than in the years he's been playing the sport. Reality doesn't care about how a player around his age taught him more about aerial battles than any sportsmen he's been following his entire life.

The journey back is as lively as usual, but Kourai's frustrated that nobody except him seems to be concerned about the very obvious pulls of fate's strings. That nobody else seemed to notice that the impossible happened.

Kourai doesn't usually smile at matches, yet he's been smiling since he left the court.

A day after, not a trace of that smile would be found on his face, as he helped packing up the team's belongings for the trip back to Nagano after a bitter defeat.

* * *

For some time now _—maybe, just maybe since nationals—_ his mind has been running at several miles per minute, haywire. So, he runs to catch up.

At home. Running through Nagano's streets like a whirlwind. At the highschool, in the gym. Somewhere far away enough from his brother's mocking words, because _of course_ he saw that embarrassing video of Kourai screaming at another player from the other side of the court something that sounded a little bit too much like a proposal. A promise. Kourai's never broken a promise, that's why he keeps running.

But no matter how much he runs, his mind is still out of reach. It flies away to Miyagi.

He stops dead on his track as he caught himself, yet again, thinking about Hinata Shouyou. _He's been thinking about him a lot, lately._

He starts running again.

Nationals, the fourth day. His team had a crushing defeat against Fukurodani, Tokyo's owls, and they dropped the last set with a fifteen points difference. They returned home, some crying and others standing strong.

Kourai barely cries, but he does run and train until he can't walk and Sachirou pretends that's okay. Sachirou doesn't cries either, unless nobody's close, and Kourai pretends he doesn't know that. They both pretend they can't see each other's weak sides, because they're both too headstrong and prideful to accept a helping hand or a shoulder to cry.

At least Kourai knows he wouldn't accept it. That his pride is way too big, and pride is all he has.

They returned and trained out of habit. Kourai admits only to himself that maybe, just maybe, he's a little bit of a loser for not having hobbies and friends outside of volleyball. He's also glad the sport consumes so much of his time and that he doesn't needs to think about it.

He trained afterhours and then for a little bit more. The third years retired and left the team at the next generation's hands. Sachirou became captain and he became vice-captain, and things followed a predictable path for a while. They both knew each other for a few years now, but Kourai's never been able to measure exactly how close they were. They understand each other through volleyball, because he's never been too good at talking.

His last year at Kamomedai started like that.

Maybe some time before, that wouldn't've been interesting enough for him. After all, it was just another year. Another year playing in regionals, trying to reach the national stage, trying to climb to a higher summit. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing out of habit.

Yet, he would still catch himself counting the days until spring's tournament, wondering if he would find again the person who, he was sure, was his fated rival.

* * *

He is not quite sure how, but he, Sachirou and Gao have become close since the beginning of their third year. Maybe it's related to the fact that Sachirou's been helping them both with their homework, with quite an admirable success with Gao and, frankly, a pathetic failure in regards to himself. He's yet to see Sachirou give up on him.

Sachirou is many things and irritatingly persistent is one of them. He's been like that ever since Kourai met him and so far in the game he wonders if it's genetic. His older siblings seem to be about as headstrong.

_And speaking of persistence…_

"You're fuckin' kidding me." Surprisingly, Gao regained his composure quicker.

He discovered that he had a persistent trouble that refused to leave, when after months past the match, he was still re-watching the same tape. Studying Karasuno. With his gaze fixated on their number 10.

His mind was seemingly against giving up the idea of going against Hinata Shouyou, something that was starting to become irritating and dangerous in equal parts. The last time he got this obsessed with something, he ended up joining the cooking club with the sole purpose of showing his brother that he was able to learn how to cook.

He broke a stove, earned a nasty burn in his forearm which Sachirou still laughs at every time he sees it and developed a moderated fright to fire. The thing that bothers him the most is that he still never learned how to cook.

"Kourai-kun's pride doubles him in size, he wouldn't joke about something like this to save his life," Sachirou replies as he frowns. Somehow, he fights back the urge to smack his head because, well yeah, he is prideful. "Did you really _never_ noticed that you were maybe thinking a lil' bit too much about Karasuno's number 10?"

_"Hinata Shouyou_ ," he corrects without really thinking about it.

_"I know his name_ , but I think I might get a stomachache if somebody mentions him _again,"_ he strikes back, surprisingly bitter about it.

"Green doesn't suit you, does it?" This time is Gao's turn to be a little shit, which earns him a very resounding smack in his buttocks, delivered by Sachirou. _"Oi!"_

"It's for competitive purposes only, aight?!" he yells, powering through them both and running ahead. Gao tries to run faster to avoid getting left behind and Sachirou follows without breaking a sweat. "This year we'll crush 'em again! I'll show him who the real Little Giant is! Y'all wait and see, I'm goin' to defeat Hinata Sho-"

"Kourai-kun, if you keep going at it, you'll crash with a pole _again,"_ Sachirou interrupts his declaration dryly. Gao keeps laughing.

Snorting as he jogs, Kourai keeps looking forward. At least the team was behind enough for them to remain blissfully unaware of the first crash which, by the way, that pole definitely wasn't there last week, no matter how much Sachirou keeps saying he's making things up.

_How does he dare making fun of me like that? It's obvious that the fact that our paths crossed was fate! He's the rival I've been looking for my entire life! Hinata Shouyou and I are destined to be enemies, and I will keep waiting for that rematch for as long as necessary! Sachirou wouldn't understand._

"Y'know, I can tell you're thinking something stupid again," he hears him say in a halfhearted laugh. His frown deepens, to which Sachirou replies laughing again. "Oh, come on, Kourai-kun. Take it easy."

"Yeah, yeah! We don't even know if they'll make it to nationals," Gao continues the same track of thoughts, sounding annoyingly logical and reasonable. "I don't think you should hope too much for a rematch this year."

"HAH! _Ye of little faith._ Wait and see, I'll have my rematch! And y'know what I'll do after defeating Hinata Shouyou? I'll laugh at both of you for _underestimating me!"_

"Kourai-kun, for the last time: _nobody's underestimating you anymore."_

"The path to the top is a lonely one! There can only be one Little Giant and it'll be me!"

He's not expecting to be understood by them. They're tall, any other tall player with an irritatingly challenging style of play could become a notable rival. Kourai couldn't even recall half the names of the players that swore by the moon that they would defeat him next time, just to disappear again. The ones he can remember though, aren't for anything particularly positive.

But that match was different. Unexpected. _Karasuno is unexpected._ They're inventive and adaptable, they're _aggressive_ and their arsenal of attacks is big enough to confuse even the best of the blockers. Kageyama by himself is already a danger—he knows it all too well. He wasn't invited to that training camp as a decoration, but then again, neither was Kourai.

Kageyama is, definitely, an opponent to _fear._ His attacks are creative and persistent and—contrary to whatever the fuck _piss-hair Miya_ seemed to imply back then—he's _not_ a fucking saint. A nightmare from head to toe and he really wants to crush him because he's a big pain in the ass. He kind of reminds him of Sachirou.

But Hinata… he's not sure he's ever met a player like him. Sure, there must be similar players in several sports around the globe. Athletes who, against every odd, make history. But Kourai doesn't know any of them personally and for him, that's as good as inexistent.

Then he appeared out of nowhere, ripping a laugh out of him in the middle of a match that they barely won. He showed him just how big and small he was, that there was somebody just like him, yet so different. He made him realize all the things he gave up for convincing himself that he was too short to fight in a certain way.

Kourai promised he would wait. And so he would, forever and a day.

* * *

Nagano's a mountain city. That means bitter cold on winter and something's that hotter than hell on summer. It means pollen in every nook, crack and corner on spring. It's walking uphill and running downhill. Oh, and _mosquitoes,_ a whole bunch of them.

He recalls from his childhood days, the beach. Every summer, maybe one or two days. Akitomo used to try and pull him deeper under water so much, he ended up learning how to swim just to get away, just like he learned volleyball in an attempt to avoid being in the same team as him and having to hear the coach praise the wrong Hoshiumi.

Oh, but winters belong to the mountains. They dye themselves in white, just like his and his mother's hair. Dad has always hated heights, and every winter he would stay inside as they went outside to climb. She loves climbing.

She _loved_ climbing.

"One day, I'll return here as the greatest player in the entire world!" he declared, back then when he was about four and a half foot tall, stuck in Yurisei's second string volleyball team and Akitomo was still better at everything, including being taller, smarter, popular and better at every sport. Defeating him, back then, was still his goal.

"Dumbass! Don't you know how many players there are in the entire world?" Akitomo asks, incredulous and annoyed at his bravado. A while ago he would only mock him for being small, but lately he mocked him for everything. "Oh well, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know how to count past one hundred."

"Oi! Of course I can! Are ya underestimating me?"

She would scold them both, so they would get along better. Specially his brother, to keep him from bullying him for every little thing. That's not how family works. Dad would usually say that she's playing favorites, but Kourai never heard his mother say a word when Akitomo and dad went on camping trips and left him behind.

"Kourai," she said back then. "I think you can be the greatest player in the world. But don't you forget to pay a visit to yer ole mom every once in a while! Promise?"

_She loved winter._

* * *

There are some things he just doesn't understand, even if he was raised with them. Like, formal language or why the fuck are metaphors so freaking absurd. Or why are words so complicated. He doesn't understand Japanese, so to say.

Sachirou once told him that the English language is actually three other languages piling up and hiding under a coat, that seagulls mate for life _and that he should stop obsessing over Hinata Shouyou._ Sachirou says a lot of weird stuff, all the time.

"Are the results out yet?" he asks, looking intensely at Sachirou's phone. If he were able to shoot rays through his eyes, the poor thing would have been fried already.

"Kourai-kun, preliminaries ended _yesterday_. Mind chilling?"

Despite saying that he wasn't expecting to go against Hinata Shouyou until after highschool, when they were both fully-fledged professional players, Kourai still let himself hope.

Hope is such a dangerous little thing. It grows out of nowhere and any minor inconvenience can make it disappear. Except that he's never been like that, because his life is just one very big series of unfortunate events and inconveniences with small moments of hope and he's just gotten used to being disappointed even when his expectations are _inexistent._

But that player gave him way too many expectations, which each one of them scared him to the core because he wasn't entirely _sure_ where that anticipation and hope came from. He just knows it's the prelude of big disappointments and he's not that good at handling those. That's why he got used to having very low expectations of anything except himself.

"Alright, alright… But are they out yet?!" Sachirou looks at him with what seems to be a mix of tiredness and disbelief, or maybe it's just his usual stare. He can't tell them apart.

"You know what? I think you should go _downstairs_ and buy something from the vending machine," he says as he hands him a small bunch of coins. Kourai can't believe he's trying to buy his quietness, but then again, this is _Sachirou_ he's talking about. "Go ahead, bring me milk or something."

"Who do you think I am?! Your SERVANT?!"

"Hey, Kourai-kun, I think I might not be in the mood to read the news today, after all."

"Ugh! Alright, alright, I'm going!" he yells as an answer, standing up and striding to the hallway, attracting everybody's stares to himself. "You're a demon, I hope you know that!"

"Bring me almond milk, Kourai-kun!"

"I know it already!"

Being Hirugami Sachirou's friend was the best/worst thing that could've happened to him. He's cruel and loves to make fun of him, from his fashion sense to all the things he doesn't like to read, and he also tells him that he's hopelessly cheesy, because he loves _shonen_.

It wasn't always like this, though. The time in which he didn't do anything but play, eat and breath volleyball clashes with the time in which they met, and they don't want to ever go there again. That time in which his eyes were devoid of any emotion but grief, when his knuckles were bruised and bloody and when he played not out of love and passion, but out of fear of disappointment and obligation.

Kourai prefers the Sachirou that's sarcastic and a bit cruel, the one that tells him fun facts about seagulls and complains about how creepy he gets when he's enjoying himself in a match, because that's the exact same Sachirou that's never underestimated him for his height and never fails to look amazed when he masters a new attack. It's kind of like having a younger brother.

However, he's five minutes in the predicament of choosing what should he buy for Sachirou, given the lack of milk— _there's no almond milk and Sachirou's vegetarian, I can't bring him regular milk! That's not right! Should I walk to the store? But it's way more expensive there! Maybe it would be okay if I buy him coffee? No! He wants milk!_ —when the clock nearby warns him that the lunch break is five minutes from being over.

Choosing to bring him rice milk, Kourai jogs upstairs and back to _the_ _world's best/worst friend._ He doesn't get him at all, but just like Japanese and absurd metaphors, it's an immovable _—haha—_ part of his life.

"Here," he says unprompted, putting the milk on his desk. "There was no almond milk."

"And you spent so long downstairs because of that? Gee, Kourai-kun," he replies, laughing softly as he accepts the milk. "It was perfectly fine if you couldn't purchase it, y'know."

"The hell are you talking about? Ya wanted something to drink, didn'tcha?! Shut it and drink!" he snaps back, eating the bag of chips he bought as fast as he could, and drinks his strawberry flavored water about as fast. He always eats a little snack a little before classes, otherwise he gets distracted even more easily and he was already warned that he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the spring's tournament if his grades dropped any lower. "Wait, were ya' looking at my notes?!"

"Your calligraphy is _pathetic,_ Kourai-kun-"

"Oi! I can read it and that's what matters!"

"But you have improved a lot. Have you been using the calligraphy books I gave you?" In the middle of a very embarrassing silence, Kourai looks away from Sachirou as he finishes eating his quick snack and walks over the dumpster to put the trash in. "I didn't think you would actually take so seriously your studies… I'm proud of you."

_"Shut it,_ would'ja?!" he shouts, feeling the blood run to his face by the second. "It's for the team!"

"Truly, you're a very dedicated ace."

"Well, of course I am! I'm not going to sit down and watch while y'all have fun going against Karasuno and Hinata Shouyou!"

The bell rang before Sachirou could even think about a retort to that, which is why he simply rolled his eyes and got up to walk back to his own classroom.

Amongst all the other things he doesn't really get—the list is already big and it _never_ stops growing—he lists his best friend. That best friend that's become so good at detaching his emotions from his actions and at pretending that nothing ever fazes him. He's so good at lying it kind of became obvious.

Or maybe it's obvious for Kourai, who lived through the transition from the young boy that looked a mistake away from falling apart entirely, and the one that now was as cold blooded as a lizard. He knows that it's partially his own fault and he doesn't know how he should feel about it because, again, Kourai doesn't want him to suffer ever again, but he would love to understand what's going on inside his neat little head.

Truly, there must be a lot more than just volleyball, school and weird animal trivia. Maybe he thinks about girls? Sachirou's pretty popular. At least more popular than Kourai, that's for sure. And, according to the team's manager, Sachirou's handsome, which is yet another thing in that endless list of things he doesn't really understand.

He doesn't understand several things, alright? Math, English, how to peel apples, how the fuck does one fold bedsheets. He doesn't understands Sachirou.

"Good afternoon, class. Today we'll be starting with the end of the Edo Era, so please open your books and-"

When the day ends, Kourai suddenly remembers that Sachirou never showed him which team won Miyagi's preliminaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Hey, it's Tam!**  
>  So, this is the first time in a while I've translated my works (AND ACTUALLY PUBLISHED THEM), so I'm a bit anxious about how good it actually is. I really love Hoshiumi, he became one of my favorite characters real quick and that only means one thing: I have to write a fic and make him suffer.  
> Special thanks to my friends, Mc and Angie, who took the time to proofread this chapter and remind me exactly how much I suck with verbs. You can find Mc as Mc19051 on twitter (who, for the record, thought that Karasuno was a non-binary person, since she knows pretty much nothing about Haikyuu) and Angie as BilingualShipper on AO3.  
> Thanks so much for reading. English is not my first language, so if you can spot any weird thing, let me know!  
>  _ **Stay tunned!**_  
>  ** _;Tamarindo Amargo_**  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by [Guiding Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22797739/chapters/54481114) by KurapikasDad!
> 
> Special thanks to my friends [Mc](https://twitter.com/Mc19051) and [Angie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BilingualShipper/works) for helping me with proofreading!


End file.
